Right concentration consists of a whole repertory of samadhi4 practices. It would not be possible here to detail all of them, but they include the seven expedient stages: (1-5) the five methods of stilling the mind5, (6) the four foundations of mindfulness, and (7) the path of seeing, which is the first level of the arhat path. For right concentration there are also the practices of the sixteen aspects6 of the Four Noble Truths, which was briefly discussed in the first lecture.

Cessation and the Twelve Links

To begin the process of cessation we need to understand the twelve links of conditioned arising, and how they are both the causes and the effects of suffering. The twelve links are the stages that an individual experiences through the samsaric cycle of birth and death. The first is (1)fundamental ignorance: being ignorant as to the impermanent nature of existence and being defiled by the poisons of desire, hatred, and delusion. This link sets into motion the second link, (2) action, or volitional impulses, where the seeds of karma are planted. The third link is (3) consciousness, the active mental force that propels us from one life cycle to the next.

In the fourth link, (4) name-and-form, we enter the phase of the current life in which the karmic residue of consciousness and bodily form unite to ultimately become an individual. The fifth link, the (5) six entrances, or sense faculties, are our windows of interaction with the world. Note that in addition to the senses, consciousness is the sixth sense faculty The sixth link, (6) contact is the interaction of the sense faculties with the environment. The seventh link, (7) sensation discriminates among experiences as to pleasurable, painful, or neutral. The eighth link, (8) desire is the result of the interactions between sense faculties and their sense objects. The ninth link, (9) grasping, is the eighth link translated into action. When the craving for existence becomes grasping, one's re-entry into the world of samsara is imminent. The tenth link is (10) existence, the creation of a new cycle of karma in the form of a sentient being.